Federal officials mandate 1.25 million acre-feet water cuts for California, Nevada and Arizona
The Bureau of Reclamation will require the three states to reduce Colorado River withdrawals by about 1.25 million acre-feet per year for the next two years, with larger cuts possible if conditions worsen.
Federal officials announced that California, Nevada and Arizona must collectively cut Colorado River water use by 1.25 million acre-feet (approximately 1.54 billion cubic metres) each year for the 2027-2028 period, according to a plan from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The reductions could be increased if the river’s supply continues to decline.
Arizona will face the largest share of the cuts, while the upstream states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are not subject to reductions at this time. Under a separate U.S.–Mexico treaty, Mexico will lower its intake by 250,000 acre-feet.
"We've been in this 26-year prolonged drought period," said Andrea Travnicek, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for water and science. "We continue to see a prolonged drought in our future. So continuing to work together as a whole within the basin is going to be extremely important."
The current water-allocation rules expire in October, and the seven basin states have not yet reached a long-term agreement. Record-low snowpack last winter intensified pressure on agriculture, industry, wildlife, hydropower and the tens of millions of people who depend on the river, including numerous Native American tribes and two Mexican states.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs fed by the Colorado, have both fallen to their lowest levels in nearly seven decades, reflecting years of overuse, drought and rising temperatures linked to climate change.
Arizona officials thanked California and Nevada for cooperating on the cuts.
"For 2027 and 2028, the reductions that are now memorialized here will provide substantial stability for folks," said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
California's chief Colorado River negotiator described the plan as offering "some badly needed near-term certainty at a moment of extraordinary risk," while noting it is a temporary measure. Nevada officials expressed support for a seven-state consensus as the preferred path forward.
In southern Nevada, senior adviser Kyle Roerink of the Great Basin Water Network said the cuts could slow real-estate development in the Las Vegas area, adding that the situation presents an opportunity to plan for the next century.